Two days and 10 stabbed in city

 
ANDREW HEASLEY AND ANDRA JACKSON
February 22, 2010
 
Police have expressed concern at the prevalence of a ''knife culture'' in Melbourne, with 10 people stabbed during the weekend.
 
''The knife culture that we are currently seeing is of great concern to police,'' a police spokesman told The Age.
 
''We know that some people, particularly young people, are carrying knives because they see them as a status symbol or a weapon of defence. They are not. They are a weapon of offence and we will continue to make the point that not only is the carrying of weapons illegal, it is highly dangerous.''
 
Ambulance Victoria confirmed attending 10 stabbing incidents at the weekend.
 
The first incident happened about 1.20am on Saturday when a 34-year-old man and his 15-year-old relative were stabbed in the course of an argument with three men at a bus stop in Frankston. One was taken to The Alfred hospital, the other to Frankston Hospital.
 
About 1.50am on Saturday an argument broke out between two groups in Whiteman Street, Southbank. Two men and a woman were injured.
 
In Brunswick, a dispute broke out between two men who lived at a boarding house about 3am on Saturday, leaving one man with stab wounds that required treatment at the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
 
In a particularly violent incident, a man was clubbed repeatedly with a baseball bat and then stabbed with with a hunting knife or a machete in the back when he was attacked along with two other men at 3am on Saturday outside a housing commission block in Richmond. He suffered a punctured lung and arm wounds and is in a serious condition in the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
 
A 17-year-old youth, stabbed as he stood outside a house in Lacenet Avenue, Frankston North about 4.30am on Saturday was taken to The Alfred hospital.
 
In the sixth attack, on Saturday night two people, one of them a 17-year-old, were set upon by five men at a community festival in Springvale's Burden Park. The 17-year-old was stabbed in the lower back and taken to The Alfred.
 
At 7.10 last night, a 30-year-old male was taken to the Royal Melbourne Hospital with wounds to the upper body after he was stabbed in Swanston Street, Carlton.
 
Link : http://www.theage.com.au/national/two-days-and-10-stabbed-in-city-20100221-oo1r.html?autostart=1